The Orange-fronted Parakeet or Orange-fronted Conure (Aratinga canicularis), also known as the Half-moon Conure, is a medium-sized parrot

Parrot

Parrots, also known as psittacines , are birds of the roughly 372 species in 86 genera that make up the order Psittaciformes, found in most tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three families: the Psittacidae , the Cacatuidae and the Strigopidae...

 which is a resident from western Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

 to Costa Rica

Costa Rica

Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....

.

Taxonomy

There are three subspecies:

• Aratinga canicularis canicularis (Linnaeus, 1758)
• Aratinga canicularis clarae (R. T. Moore
  Robert Thomas Moore
  Robert Thomas Moore was an American businessman, an independent ornithologist, a philanthropist, and the founder and for some years the editor-in-chief of the Borestone Mountain Poetry Awards...
  
  , 1937)
• Aratinga canicularis eburnirostrum (Lesson
  René-Primevère Lesson
  René Primevère Lesson was a French surgeon, naturalist, ornithologist, and herpetologist.Lesson was born at Rochefort, and at the age of sixteen he entered the Naval Medical School there...
  
  , 1842)

Habitat and range

It is found in lowlands and foothills on the Pacific side of the central mountain ranges in forest canopy and edges, and more open woodland, including savanna and second growth.

Description

Orange-fronted Parakeets are 22.5 cm long and weigh 80 g. The adult is mainly green, paler and yellower below and with an olive tone to the breast. The wings have blue outer primaries and yellow linings, and the pointed tail is tipped with blue. The head is distinctive, with a blue crown, orange forehead, bare yellow eye-ring, yellow iris and white bill. Young birds are similar to the adults, but with much less orange on the forehead.

Behaviour

The Orange-fronted Parakeet feeds in flocks which can reach 100 birds outside the breeding season, taking various seeds, flowers and fruits including fig

Ficus

Ficus is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes, and hemiepiphyte in the family Moraceae. Collectively known as fig trees or figs, they are native throughout the tropics with a few species extending into the semi-warm temperate zone. The Common Fig Ficus is a genus of...

s. Its flight call is a raucous can-can-can, and when perched it has a reedy zeeweet.

Breeding

The 3-5 white egg

Egg (biology)

An egg is an organic vessel in which an embryo first begins to develop. In most birds, reptiles, insects, molluscs, fish, and monotremes, an egg is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum, which is expelled from the body and permitted to develop outside the body until the developing...

s are laid in an unlined nest cavity, usually self-excavated in an arboreal termite

Termite

Termites are a group of eusocial insects that, until recently, were classified at the taxonomic rank of order Isoptera , but are now accepted as the epifamily Termitoidae, of the cockroach order Blattodea...

 nest of the termite species Nasutitermes nigriceps

Nasutitermes

Nasutitermes is a genus of termites. It consists of the following species:*Nasutitermes bikpelanus*Nasutitermes corniger*Nasutitermes ephratae*Nasutitermes exitiosus*Nasutitermes magnus*Nasutitermes matangensiformis...

, but sometimes in an old woodpecker

Woodpecker

Woodpeckers are near passerine birds of the order Piciformes. They are one subfamily in the family Picidae, which also includes the piculets and wrynecks. They are found worldwide and include about 180 species....

hole or natural cavity.